A.E.LANDES PHOTOBLOG

I was recruited a few months ago to photograph the Beautiful You Conference being held in Washington, DC. Among other things, it is predominantly about ending human trafficking both here and abroad – such a great mission! Simone volunteered to be the shining face for the conference’s promotional images, and with the help of a great makeup and support staff, the images came out better than any of us expected. Her looks are magical, and despite the Arctic temperatures, we got the sparklers lit and had some fun posing in the streets. Enjoy the gallery!

Check out Simone’s Portraits for the 2011 Beautiful You Conference!

Melissa and Joe have it down – between running marathons and Joe’s healthy mountain bike obsession, they have two beautiful kids that made my job as a photographer very easy. We set out on the National Mall and just had some fun in the bright, fall leaves surrounding the WWII Memorial and checking out the bridged island nearby. The sun and leaves played so well with the family, it was a chore picking out the very best photos from our session. Enjoy the gallery of images!

Here is Melissa and Joe’s Fall Family Portrait Gallery.

I just got back about 10 rolls of film that was sitting (sadly!) in my fridge, waiting to be magically developed. Every once in a while, I will shoot a roll and then stick it in a Ziploc bag and forget about it. When I got back the scans last night, I realized how much I still love the look of film and how my subjects change when I shoot with film cameras… I am sorry, but digital film effects are to film as Splenda is to sugar: the taste just isn’t 100% there. Anyway, these photos have a bit of personal narrative from over the past two years – the photos range from the MS City to Shore ride, State College shots, Taiwan, DC, and a recent trip to Avalon, NJ. Enjoy!

A Bit of a Personal Post Gallery…

Bright sun and an ‘unsprung’ field turned into a great setting for shooting some portraits of a long-time friend, Kate. Don’t be fooled – we did have to break out the reflector to lighten up some shadows, but really sometimes you just have to go with what you have for weather and settings. We just needed a few nice professional shots, and then we moved onto a bit more spontaneous poses.

Check out Kate’s Portrait Session here!

I had a great portrait session all set up and waiting when I arrived in DC. It was really a great time working with Nisma Karedis, a hair and makeup artist coming all the way in from CA for a visit. These women were all friends living in DC area, and we moved some things around in the kitchen to get access to the amazing exposed brick wall and huge bank of windows (hence the great side-lighting!). And then we braved the cold for some outdoor shots around the waterfront and tunnel in Alexandria during the magic hour.

Check out the choice gallery of images here: DC Ladies’ Portrait Session.

My friend Roxanne contacted me as soon as I got back into the country, wanting some pictures with her graduating roommates before they separated ways. We had some warm afternoon sunlight hinting through the trees, which lit up the shrine perfectly for portraits around it. Shooting silhouettes is becoming a favorite thing to do, and we had brilliant yellows as a background for portrait rim lighting. The ladies posed wonderfully, and I hope these pictures carry wonderful memories from PSU.

Here are a few images from the Penn State Graduate Portraits Gallery.

Greetings from the far (FAR!) east! I just got back into the capital of Taiwan last night, and have been furiously downloading and editing pictures in order to get a few of them posted for you to see. While here with the intention of taking candid images of people/traditions that I know very little about, I feel it is so important to put away the camera and just interact with people than to take every picture possible. That being said, I have already met a lot of people who are very welcoming and kind, and I hope I was able to truly represent the people behind the traditions foreign to myself.

Here is a gallery from Photographing Across Taiwan: Part 1.

Aaron has been a long-time friend, and was my other set of eyes and fashion consultant for Irene and Ashlynn’s portrait shoot. He needed some shots for his use to put his face along with his crazy web/social-networking software development (CoTweet), so we shot away while the ladies were getting ready. Funny, yes. Serious, yes. Sarcastic, always. I think a good dose of his personality really comes through on these images.

Click here to view Aaron’s Promotional Portraits.

I count myself lucky to have friends this beautiful AND love to have their pictures taken! We had a chilly but successful session on the roof of their house in DC, and we then moved to the back patio for a few and had a candlelit experience inside. I find that I am really hard on myself with posed images – I mean, I want them to be as technically perfect as I can manage. I ended up only keeping the top 10%, of which I think the one of them sitting on the floor of the roof is the money-maker. Wow. Thanks Irene and Ashlynn – you two are truly wonderful ladies!

Click here to see a selection from Irene and Ashlynn’s Portrait Session.